Season One Rewrites
Season One was originally written by the creator at the age of fourteen as a means of coping with their depression. The Season was adjusted accordingly once the show got picked up to fix any inaccuracies within the original writing. It has been mentioned that about half of the original written content was removed. All the original scripts exist, and the writers have said that they one day may be auctioned off for charity. Plot It is unknown what content got cut from the first season, but over time the writers have revealed several plot lines from the season. The plot lines include: *John was originally going to be revealed as Jake's father. *Characters named Susan, Nigel, Garret and James were removed. **However, James and Garret were later merged into Andrew, and Susan was merged with Angie. ***"Andrew" was also a different character to the Andrew in the actual show, and was Rachel's younger brother, instead, Rachel's brother would be named Tom. ***Nigel was the only cut character who was not merged with another character. Not much is known about Nigel, other than he was Jake's friend and neighbor, was from the UK, would befriend Danny, and would move away during the first half of the season. He was probably cut due to having little impact on the show. *Brad's death was because Linda shot him, not because Angie beat him to death. **Linda's reason for leaving was because she shot Brad after learning he had been released from prison, not because he had been released from prison alone. *Ben being responsible for Patrick's death, and not Angie. It's been said Patrick was originally going to die from a car explosion, due to Ben adding a vast number of dangerous chemicals to the fuel tank. *The crash in the Pilot being a plane crash instead of a bus crash. *The Pilot took place in December a few weeks before Christmas instead of late October/early November celebrating the towns founding anniversary. *Kurt was a Canadian exchange student instead of an American student visiting home. *Angie was going to have a husband. Would I Think of Suicide Probably the most notorious rewrite of Season One would have been the fourth episode Would I Think of Suicide. The episode was completely removed and rewritten as the Season One episode, I Can't Go On. The writers have been scarce on revealing details on this episode, as the main reason it was rewritten was because they felt it was offensive and mocked suicide. However, they have revealed an overall synopsis for the episode. The episodes plot was that Jake was being bullied, and felt ignored by John at tennis. This lead to Jake coming up with a plan with fellow resident Susan, to fake Jake's attempted suicide. Jake would then go to tennis, and attend an entire lesson wearing a bullet proof vest, and a bag of blood, as well as having a large knife in his pocket. After the lesson was over, he would pull the knife out and stab the bag of blood, making it look like he attempted to stab himself. Susan would then rush Jake to "hospital" but would secretly hide him in her house. It was also addressed that Jake and Susan had arranged this with the local hospital, to not send an ambulance if John called one, and to refuse John to see Jake if he ever showed up at the hospital. The events from this episode would then have been the reason for Marilyn, and later Edie, showing up. The plot for this episode was entirely removed from Season One's fourth episode, and heavily adjusted and included in the shows seventh episode.